Grant Balfour has converted his last 30 save attempts, dating back to last year. (USA TODAY IMAGES)

SAN FRANCISCO -- Bob Melvin likes to play things close to the vest when it comes to the information game, so the A's manager was not about to reveal whether his closer was available or not for the Bay Bridge interleague series finale on Thursday.

All he would say was Grant Balfour was "potentially one" of the relievers he'd stay away from using against the Giants after Balfour pitched in three straight games, one of which was a non-save situation.

Balfour, meanwhile, said after closing out Wednesday night's 9-6 victory that appearing in Tuesday night's 6-3 Oakland victory -- the A's led 6-2 when he entered -- might make him unavailable Thursday.

"Now it's three days in a row," Balfour said. "I pitch whenever the manager tells me to go in."

And while Balfour has thrown on three straight days, consider this: he only pitched three times in the previous nine days.

So don't be surprised if the situation calls for it -- a three-run-or-less lead and the opportunity to sweep four games from the cross-Bay Giants -- Melvin tabs Balfour four a fourth consecutive day.

After all, Balfour is perfect this year in saves, going 12-for-12, and he has also converted 30 straight, dating to last season. His last blown save was on April 29, 2012, at Baltimore. Just don't ask him about the streak.

"Don't talk to me about numbers," he told a reporter.

So there.

***

Construction and commute time have made the past two days "literally the Bay Bride Series," Melvin laughed nervously.

With the traffic, it took Melvin and many A's players more than an hour to get home after Wednesday night's game and longer than that to arrive at the Giants waterfront ballpark Thursday morning.

Starter A.J. Griffin did not arrive for the 12:35 start until 10:55, saying out loud in the A's clubhouse it took him an hour and 20 minutes to arrive from downtown Oakland.

***

The intensity of Wednesday night's game was still a topic of discussion. In fact, Melvin acknowledged he had no clue his bench coach, Chip Hale, had been tossed in the sixth inning by home plate umpire Brian Knight for continuing to yell at him after a disputed call on a fair ball that went for a double.

"I came back in (the dugout) and I was looking for him," Melvin said. "I didn't know."

***

Left-handed reliever Sean Doolittle's 13 1/3-inning scoreless streak was ended the night before when he gave up two runs.

Josh Reddick's fourth and final rehab game with the Triple-A Sacramento River Cats will not happen until Thursday night but he appears on schedule to rejoin the A's Friday for their series opener against the Chicago White Sox at the O.co Coliseum.

"If everything goes well, we don't want to get ahead of ourselves, but the plan was for four (rehab) games," Melvin said. "That's probably where we're still at."

Reddick played Monday for Class A Stockton and on Tuesday and Wednesday in Sacramento. He is a combined 3-for-10 with two walks, two stolen bases, no strikeouts and five runs scored, plus a sweet diving catch in right field on Wednesday night.